What term describes the delay between data transmission and receipt?

Latency is the term that describes the delay between data transmission and receipt. It refers to the time it takes for a packet of data to travel from the source to the destination. This can include various factors such as the time it takes to process the data at both ends, the time it takes for the data to travel over the physical medium, and any delays introduced by networking equipment along the way.

Understanding latency is crucial in data center design and networking, as it can significantly impact the performance of applications, especially those that are sensitive to timing, like real-time communications and online gaming.

In contrast, bandwidth relates to the maximum rate of data transfer across a network path, while throughput measures the actual amount of data successfully delivered over that path in a given time. Jitter refers to the variation in latency, which can also affect the performance of real-time applications. These definitions highlight why latency is specifically focused on the delay in communication, making it the correct term in this context.